title	summary	toc	key	docs_area
cockroach gen	Use cockroach gen to generate command-line interface utlities, such as man pages, and example data.	true	generate-cockroachdb-resources.html	reference.cli

The cockroach gen command can generate command-line interface (CLI) utilities (man pages and a bash autocompletion script), example SQL data suitable to populate test databases, and an HAProxy configuration file for load balancing a running cluster.

Subcommands

Subcommand	Usage
`man`	Generate man pages for CockroachDB.
`autocomplete`	Generate `bash` or `zsh` autocompletion script for CockroachDB. Default: `bash`
`example-data`	Generate example SQL datasets. You can also use the `cockroach workload` command to generate these sample datasets in a persistent cluster and the `cockroach demo <dataset>` command to generate these datasets in a temporary, in-memory cluster.
`haproxy`	Generate an HAProxy config file for a running CockroachDB cluster. The node addresses included in the config are those advertised by the nodes. Make sure hostnames are resolvable and IP addresses are routable from HAProxy. Decommissioned nodes are excluded from the config file.

Synopsis

Generate man pages:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen man

Generate bash autocompletion script:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen autocomplete

Generate example SQL data:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen example-data intro | cockroach sql

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen example-data startrek | cockroach sql

Generate an HAProxy config file for a running cluster:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen haproxy

View help:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen --help

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen man --help

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen autocomplete --help

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen example-data --help

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen haproxy --help

Flags

The gen subcommands supports the following general-use, logging, and client connection flags.

General

`man`

Flag	Description
`--path`	The path where man pages will be generated. Default: `man/man1` under the current directory

`autocomplete`

Flag	Description
`--out`	The path where the autocomplete file will be generated. Default: `cockroach.bash` in the current directory

`example-data`

No flags are supported. See the Generate Example Data example for guidance.

`haproxy`

Flag	Description
`--host`	The server host and port number to connect to. This can be the address of any node in the cluster. Env Variable: `COCKROACH_HOST` Default: `localhost:26257`
`--port` `-p`	The server port to connect to. Note: The port number can also be specified via `--host`. Env Variable: `COCKROACH_PORT` Default: `26257`
`--insecure`	Use an insecure connection. Env Variable: `COCKROACH_INSECURE` Default: `false`
`--certs-dir`	The path to the certificate directory containing the CA and client certificates and client key. Env Variable: `COCKROACH_CERTS_DIR` Default: `${HOME}/.cockroach-certs/`
`--url`	A connection URL to use instead of the other arguments. Env Variable: `COCKROACH_URL` Default: no URL
`--out`	The path where the `haproxy.cfg` file will be generated. If an `haproxy.cfg` file already exists in the directory, it will be overwritten. Default: `haproxy.cfg` in the current directory
`--locality`	If nodes were started with locality details, you can use the `--locality` flag here to filter the nodes included in the HAProxy config file, specifying the explicit locality tier(s) or a regular expression to match against. This is useful in cases where you want specific instances of HAProxy to route to specific nodes. See the Generate an HAProxy configuration file example for more details.

Logging

{% include {{ page.version.version }}/misc/logging-defaults.md %}

Client Connection

`haproxy`

Flag	Description
`--cluster-name`	The cluster name to use to verify the cluster's identity. If the cluster has a cluster name, you must include this flag. For more information, see `cockroach start`.
`--disable-cluster-name-verification`	Disables the cluster name check for this command. This flag must be paired with `--cluster-name`. For more information, see `cockroach start`.

Examples

Generate `man` pages

Generate man pages:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen man

Move the man pages to the man directory:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ sudo mv man/man1/* /usr/share/man/man1

Access man pages:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ man cockroach

Generate a `bash` autocompletion script

Generate bash autocompletion script:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen autocomplete

Add the script to your .bashrc and .bash_profle:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ printf "\n\n#cockroach bash autocomplete\nsource '<path to>cockroach.bash'" >> ~/.bashrc

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ printf "\n\n#cockroach bash autocomplete\nsource '<path to>cockroach.bash'" >> ~/.bash_profile

You can now use tab to autocomplete cockroach commands.

Generate example data

{{site.data.alerts.callout_success}} You can also use the cockroach workload command to generate these sample datasets in a persistent cluster and the cockroach demo <dataset> command to generate these datasets in a temporary, in-memory cluster. {{site.data.alerts.end}}

To test out CockroachDB, you can generate an example startrek database, which contains 2 tables, episodes and quotes.

First, start up a demo cluster:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach demo

Then, pipe the output from cockroach gen to the URL to the demo cluster:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen example-data startrek | cockroach sql --url='postgres://demo:demo11762@127.0.0.1:26257?sslmode=require'

CREATE DATABASE
SET
DROP TABLE
DROP TABLE
CREATE TABLE
INSERT 1
...
CREATE TABLE
INSERT 1
...

Open a SQL shell to view it:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach sql --url='postgres://demo:demo11762@127.0.0.1:26257?sslmode=require'

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

> SHOW TABLES FROM startrek;

  schema_name | table_name | type  | estimated_row_count
--------------+------------+-------+----------------------
  public      | episodes   | table |                  79
  public      | quotes     | table |                 200
(2 rows)

You can also generate an example intro database, which contains 1 table, mytable, with a hidden message:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen example-data intro | cockroach sql --url='postgres://demo:demo11762@127.0.0.1:26257?sslmode=require'

CREATE DATABASE
SET
DROP TABLE
CREATE TABLE
INSERT 1
INSERT 1
INSERT 1
INSERT 1
...

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

# Launch the built-in SQL client to view it:
$ cockroach sql --url='postgres://demo:demo11762@127.0.0.1:26257?sslmode=require'

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

> SHOW TABLES FROM intro;

  schema_name | table_name | type  | estimated_row_count
--------------+------------+-------+----------------------
  public      | mytable    | table |                  42
(1 row)

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

> SELECT * FROM intro.mytable WHERE (l % 2) = 0;

  l  |                          v
-----+-------------------------------------------------------
   0 | !__aaawwmqmqmwwwaas,,_        .__aaawwwmqmqmwwaaa,,
   2 | !"VT?!"""^~~^"""??T$Wmqaa,_auqmWBT?!"""^~~^^""??YV^
   4 | !                    "?##mW##?"-
   6 | !  C O N G R A T S  _am#Z??A#ma,           Y
   8 | !                 _ummY"    "9#ma,       A
  10 | !                vm#Z(        )Xmms    Y
  12 | !              .j####mmm#####mm#m##6.
  14 | !   W O W !    jmm###mm######m#mmm##6
  16 | !             ]#me*Xm#m#mm##m#m##SX##c
  18 | !             dm#||+*$##m#mm#m#Svvn##m
  20 | !            :mmE=|+||S##m##m#1nvnnX##;     A
  22 | !            :m#h+|+++=Xmm#m#1nvnnvdmm;     M
  24 | ! Y           $#m>+|+|||##m#1nvnnnnmm#      A
  26 | !  O          ]##z+|+|+|3#mEnnnnvnd##f      Z
  28 | !   U  D       4##c|+|+|]m#kvnvnno##P       E
  30 | !       I       4#ma+|++]mmhvnnvq##P`       !
  32 | !        D I     ?$#q%+|dmmmvnnm##!
  34 | !           T     -4##wu#mm#pw##7'
  36 | !                   -?$##m####Y'
  38 | !             !!       "Y##Y"-
  40 | !
(21 rows)

Generate an HAProxy config file

HAProxy is one of the most popular open-source TCP load balancers, and CockroachDB includes a built-in command for generating a configuration file that is preset to work with your running cluster.

Secure Insecure

To generate an HAProxy config file for an entire secure cluster, run the `cockroach gen haproxy` command, specifying the location of [certificate directory](cockroach-cert.html) and the address of any instance running a CockroachDB node:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen haproxy \
--certs-dir=<path to certs directory> \
--host=<address of any node in the cluster>

To limit the HAProxy config file to nodes matching specific "localities", use the --localities flag, specifying the explicit locality tier(s) or a regular expression to match against:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen haproxy \
--certs-dir=<path to certs directory> \
--host=<address of any node in the cluster>
--locality=region=us.*

To generate an HAProxy config file for an entire insecure cluster, run the `cockroach gen haproxy` command, specifying the address of any instance running a CockroachDB node:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen haproxy \
--insecure \
--host=<address of any node in the cluster>

To limit the HAProxy config file to nodes matching specific "localities", use the --localities flag, specifying the explicit locality tier(s) or a regular expression to match against:

{% include_cached copy-clipboard.html %}

$ cockroach gen haproxy \
--insecure \
--host=<address of any node in the cluster>
--locality=region=us.*

By default, the generated configuration file is called haproxy.cfg and looks as follows, with the server addresses pre-populated correctly:

global
  maxconn 4096

defaults
    mode                tcp
    # Timeout values should be configured for your specific use.
    # See: https://cbonte.github.io/haproxy-dconv/1.8/configuration.html#4-timeout%20connect
    timeout connect     10s
    timeout client      1m
    timeout server      1m
    # TCP keep-alive on client side. Server already enables them.
    option              clitcpka

listen psql
    bind :26257
    mode tcp
    balance roundrobin
    option httpchk GET /health?ready=1
    server cockroach1 <node1 address>:26257 check port 8080
    server cockroach2 <node2 address>:26257 check port 8080
    server cockroach3 <node3 address>:26257 check port 8080

The file is preset with the minimal configurations needed to work with your running cluster:

Field	Description
`timeout connect` `timeout client` `timeout server`	Timeout values that should be suitable for most deployments.
`bind`	The port that HAProxy listens on. This is the port clients will connect to and thus needs to be allowed by your network configuration. This tutorial assumes HAProxy is running on a separate machine from CockroachDB nodes. If you run HAProxy on the same machine as a node (not recommended), you'll need to change this port, as `26257` is likely already being used by the CockroachDB node.
`balance`	The balancing algorithm. This is set to `roundrobin` to ensure that connections get rotated amongst nodes (connection 1 on node 1, connection 2 on node 2, etc.). Check the HAProxy Configuration Manual for details about this and other balancing algorithms.
`option httpchk`	The HTTP endpoint that HAProxy uses to check node health. `/health?ready=1` ensures that HAProxy doesn't direct traffic to nodes that are live but not ready to receive requests.
`server`	For each included node, this field specifies the address the node advertises to other nodes in the cluster, i.e., the addressed pass in the `--advertise-addr` flag on node startup. Make sure hostnames are resolvable and IP addresses are routable from HAProxy.

{{site.data.alerts.callout_info}} For full details on these and other configuration settings, see the HAProxy Configuration Manual. {{site.data.alerts.end}}

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cockroach-gen.md

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Subcommands

Synopsis

Flags

General

`man`

`autocomplete`

`example-data`

`haproxy`

Logging

Client Connection

`haproxy`

Examples

Generate `man` pages

Generate a `bash` autocompletion script

Generate example data

Generate an HAProxy config file

See also

Files

cockroach-gen.md

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History

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File metadata and controls

Subcommands

Synopsis

Flags

General

man

autocomplete

example-data

haproxy

Logging

Client Connection

haproxy

Examples

Generate man pages

Generate a bash autocompletion script

Generate example data

Generate an HAProxy config file

See also

`man`

`autocomplete`

`example-data`

`haproxy`

`haproxy`

Generate `man` pages

Generate a `bash` autocompletion script